UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State wrester Josh Barr has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the week ending Feb. 9. Barr earned the honor after going 2-0 over the weekend for the Nittany Lions, who continued their dominance through Big Ten competition with routs of Michigan and Maryland. The award is the tenth of the year for the team (Wrestler and Freshman).

Josh Barr continued his stellar rookie campaign, picking up two more Big Ten victories, including knocking off the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the nation at 197. He began the weekend by using a late reversal in a tiebreaker to post a 3-2 decision win over No. 2 Josh Cardenas of Michigan. Barr’s win over the Wolverine grad student helped propel Penn State to a 39-0 shutout win over visiting Michigan in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Two days later, the freshman tallied four takedowns and almost five minutes in riding time to roll to 17-2 technical fall over Maryland senior Chase Mielnik, with that being clinched at 4:35. His win helped the Nittany Lions rout the Terrapins, 35-10, in Rec Hall. With the win, Barr improved to 12-1 on the season with the perfect weekend, a season including five pins, four techs and a major.

Penn State, which did not give up a takedown in either dual meet, improved to 12-0 overall, 6-0 in the Big Ten. It visits Ohio State on Friday for a 7 p.m. dual. Two days later, Penn State travels to Illinois for a 2 p.m. dual.